What's the most objectionable thing you plan to add to your story (if you haven't done so already)?
Well, since I haven't released anything, it's all on the drawing board, but a few of my more controversial ideas include:
1) A young main (early teen) developing a naive crush on a considerably older woman (think, crush-on-a-teacher type situation) which the latter - incidentally, a main villain - quite ruthlessly exploits to drive her own agenda.
2) A character dying in a very bloody kind of way. Thought to be fair, the level of gore-in-writing isn't high because that part is described from the viewpoint of the victim, who is in shock and doesn't realize his situation until just before his consciousness fades. The brutal murder is heavily implied, though.
3) Pokémon killing people. Sort of controversial given the generally happy, go-lucky image of the franchise, I suppose.
4) A character getting driven mad by the big bad and eventually committing suicide under the delusion that it will stop the big bad's evil plot.
5) A main character spending the better part of her life locked up in an insane asylum.
I think those cover the general gist of things, though I might have forgotten some. :3
Why do you use Pokemon nicknames?
Umm...because I feel like it? xD Dunno', I guess it really started with RPing, where giving nicknames was the only way to assure that my character's pokémon wouldn't get mixed up with the x amount of others from the same species lounging about. Makes them feel more like proper characters too. If the character really isn't the type to name their pokémon, I don't push it, though.
How important is the title of a fic?
Ehh...this topic has pretty much been explored to its full extent, so I'll just second what's been said. Quite often (especially when I'm low on time) the title is what determines whether or not I open the thread. So yes, titles are very important indeed.
Is it okay to cut down on the description when you're trying to add a mysterious atmosphere to your chapter?
Definitely. At least, I'd like to think that it's okay seeing as how I'm doing it all the time myself. Oftentimes what's not being said has far greater impact than what
is being said. Heck, if you really want mystery then you'll pretty much have to cut down on the explanations at some point or the other.
How do you feel about "n00b" comments about your fic?
Haven't had the chance to enjoy this yet, but n00b comments in general bug the heck out of me, so I probably wouldn't like it much. >.< Might have myself a laugh if they're suitably ridiculous ones, though. xD
Do you welcome the use of legendary Pokemon in your fic(s) or try to stay away from them?
Ehh...depends. I usually try to make use of the less known and obscure species, to which legendaries obviously don't belong, but at times I just need to draw on that divine/semi-divine status they possess, and in those cases I won't shy away from doing just that. In general, they don't tend to be my first choice, though.
As a side note, but does anyone else have difficulties in writing a first chapter? For the aforementioned planned fic, I've thrown out about four different chapter beginnings because not a single one of them seems to work. So, how do you write a first chapter, and what sort of elements (in medias res, detailed descriptions of the setting, et cetera) do you use to do it?
Yes. HECK YES. I've tried so many opening chapters now that I've lost count, everything from hectic chases and ominous, horrorish scenes to moments of quiet contemplation and cutesy-happy, innocent ones. I'm absolutely horrible at pinning down beginnings for things (right now, I have like three or four separate ones that I could pursue, each one of which would branch out into a distinctly different fic x.O) and I seem to have too much of a tendency for just pushing backspace and starting out from scratch again. >.< So yeah, it's just lots of experimental typing (sometimes just doing whatever pops into my head) with occasional saves of better attempts onto text documents for later judgment until I'm finally satisfied, pretty much like what I do with my RP plots except that the process is slower.
Mostly, my opening chapter (well, the drafts for my chapters) tend to be split into two types. The first is a confusing kind of scene that the reader won't fully understand until its context is laid down (something which won't happen until a few chapters later). The main character is introduced, but only by their mannerisms and their actions (in some of them I don't even give a name at the beginning) with no background for how they got to doing what they're currently doing, why they're doing it, where they're doing it, or indeed even what precisely they're striving for. The other type is pretty much your standard, textbook-model fanfic opening, where I lay down the basic background and current life situation of the character along with the basics of their current goal and - usually - some foreshadowing of conflict to come. Lately, I've been leaning towards the former type, though. I don't like tipping my hand too early on in the game, though of course I'll have to take the necessary precautions to ensure that I'm not being too selective. After all, I
do want my readers to understand what the heck is going on in the story; I just want to make them work a little for it. x3
Geez, I get banned for three months and you guys add 100 pages.
Well, I was gone for a week and this already grew two pages. Ahh...there's no place like the lounge, eh? x3 Welcome back, by the way.